dotHack The Twilight Dragon
by Miyamoto Kiyoshi
Summary: This an adventure of a new player, who falls in love with The World and quests for the secrets of the game. please read the first page...
1. Intro

**I do not own ".Hack"**

Hi, I'll just take a little time to introduce myself.

This is my third story published on My old account was under the username of Iochy. But I had to delete it along with my Inuyasha and Teen Titans Fan-fics.

This is my latest story which is based off of .Hack Manga and Anime. Even though once in a while you will hear about the original characters you all know and love, the story is mostly about my character in "The World"

With this said, lets put on our FMD click "Log In" and be consumed by the virtual reality.


	2. Chapter 1 Enter The World

_I don't own ".Hack"_

**Chapter 1 "Enter The World"**

"The World," that was the name of most popular MMORPG (Massive Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game) in all of Japan and many other countries. The first day after the full version of The World was released, I was one of the first in line to get it. Yes, I may sound like a loser, playing video games every chance I get, but I wasn't planning on sitting at the computer all day, every day!

I finally got home… when I looked at the clock on my desk it was still before noon, so I decided to start on my character. I logged in, and found myself on the "Create your character" page. It took me a while to think of a name, but finally I decided on "Kurumi".

I made Kurumi a Twin User (one who uses a weapon in each hand), because they focus mostly on agility, which I find to be the most important skill for striking quick and lethal blows. She had long black hair tied back, pale colored skin, and yellow cat-like eyes. She wore a dark-red sleeveless shirt, and grey miniskirt with boots up to her knees.

I hit "Create Character" and was taken to the BBS board where all of the players post whatever information they might need. I decided to skip this for now, and booted straight into the game.

"Umm… excuse me, but-," I was cut off.

"Get out of my face newbie!" some big guy said as he walked by.

I tried to find someone that I could rely on. "Excuse me…" I walked up to two guys who were standing by the Chaos Gate. They didn't seem to notice me, so I continued on.

Even though I was a newbie, I still knew a lot about the game, only because I had a friend who was a beta tester. Up until this point, I could only dream of exactly what it would be like to be immersed into The World.

I finally found someone, "Can you please tell me what server this is?"

He was a big guy with an upper body that looked like a mass of muscles covered with a skinny belt, and a slab of high-level shoulder armor. He was equipped with a giant sword on his back. On his face and chest was a white "X". Actually it was a "Wave" symbol, although it looked like an "X". It stood out a lot, on account of his dark green skin and copper-colored hair, but the weird part was that only his midsection and forearms were a normal skin color.

When I first saw him, I thought to myself… "_Why__ did I open my big mouth, he can kill me with one punch!"_ But he was actually very kind. I guess whoever said that "Looks could be deceiving," made it up from their own personal experiences.

"This is the Sigma server… aren't you too low of a level to be here?" He said to me smiling. Somehow I felt safe around him.

I looked passed the big guy toward his friend who was very handsome. He looked like a valiant knight. He had beautiful white hair that sparkled from the sun's reflection. He wore bright plate mail, and was armed with a long, elegant dagger… It looked extremely rare and powerful.

He turned towards me, and gave me an evil glance. I squealed and hid behind the friendly, big guy.

"I'm Orca, and this is my friend Balmung." he said as if reading my mind. "You should go back to MacAnu, where all the beginners start their adventure."

I typed in ** /yes> **to nod once, and before I could type in ** .bye> **Orca's friend started walking towards the Chaos Gate, and told Orca to stop talking to a newbie.

"The World" has five basic actions that are programmed into the game to make it look more realistic:

** /yes> **(nod)

** /no> **(shake head)

** /look > **(stare)

** /duck> **(shrug)

** /bye> **(wave good-bye)

But of course there are many other programs, and the one I fell in love was:

** /triumsmug> **(throw head back arrogantly)

And apparently the one that Balmung always uses was:

** /lookhard> ** (Stare hard)

"Take care! Find me when you are a high level, we might let you join out party!" Orca walked away smiling.

A few moments later I traveled through the Chaos Gate, and teleported to MacAnu.

I sighed in relief, and I was surrounded my millions of newcomers. I don't know why I was happy to find myself amongst the low level characters, maybe it was because I didn't want to look like an outcast, or maybe it was because I wanted to start my adventure and to finally join up with Orca. Or… I wanted to be acknowledged by Balmung.

**Well… that's it for now. Please leave your reviews, and I'll write more!**


	3. Chapter 2 The Secret Hero

_I don't own ".Hack"_

**People have asked me "Have you ever read the 'AI Buster'?" The answer is yes, I have… and if it wasn't for that book, I wouldn't be here writing this right now, I would probably be playing the ".Hack" games. **

**Chapter 2 "The Secret Hero."**

"Aaaahhhh!" Some strange creature was chasing me around the whole town.  
"Kurumi, what's wrong?"  
"Please kill it, Haku!" I screamed at the top of my lungs, "I thought monsters were not supposed to wonder around the city just like that!"

Haku, I met him yesterday right after I arrived at MacAnu. He was a lvl. 8 Wave master, and wore a long bright red robe with pointy red shoes. If you ask me I'd say that he stood out too much! And also his outfit didn't go with his wavy blond hair.

"Kurumi…" He sighed as he picked up the strange looking creature, "There is no point of being afraid of this little grunty! Here," He walked up to me with the creature in his hands, "Pet him," he said.  
"Err…" I poked its big snout. It snorted.  
"Hehehe, it tickles!" I started laughing as the grunty licked my hand with it's big rough tongue.  
"Well, that was easy…" Haku chuckled, "Kurumi, it's almost time for me to go, how about we level you up and then I have to call it a day."  
"But, what about this grunty?" I grew attached to this little creature after a few minutes of being with it.  
"He can come with us." He smiled as he helped me to get up from the ground.  
We walked to the Chaos Gate.

**D (Delta) Server Zone: Runs, Night, Magic**

We were teleported to a beautiful field where it was dark and mysterious. The Night sky was filled with bright stars that you could almost mistaken for the ones in real life. Far to the west was a single flame that flickered in the wind. I never realized how I would fall in love with The World so quickly, and how it looked so much like the real world.

"Over there…" Haku pointed towards the light. "That's where we need to go!"  
"Ok!" I nodded as I put away my twin blades and picked up the grunty.  
"In this server, where there is a light, there is a cave." He explained, "And where there is a cave, there is a treasure!"  
"And if there is a treasure, then there will be monsters to fight." I finished his thought.  
"You catch on quickly." He turned to me and smiled. I felt myself blush.  
"So, how long did it take you to level up?" I decided to change the subject.

He continued walking, "A day or two, once you get the hang of the game, you'll know where to train at what level."  
He sent me an invitation to his party, and his icon popped up on the bottom right-hand corner of my screen along with his health bar. This was my first time joining up with someone, so I had no idea of how to play with a team. How lame of me.  
Finally we entered a cave. I wanted to put my grunty down, so I could prepare to fight, but the poor thing was so scared he kept on climbing up onto my head.

"Leave him be," Haku exclaimed when he saw me wrestling with the grunty.  
"But how will I fight with that thing on my head?" I pointed up at the grunty.  
"He won't bother you!" Haku became all serious all of the sudden. I felt a cold chill run down my spine.  
"Sorry…" I looked down. We continued into the cave.

**Cave Level 5, Floor 1**

"EEEEPP!" I jumped.  
"What?" he turned around.  
"What is this place? I feel like I'm inside a stomach!"  
"Its just how the cave was programmed to look like."  
"H-Hakuuu! Th-there is…" I pointed behind him.

He sighed, and turned around to look at what it was that I was pointing. A monster was flying straight at us. It was a pumpkin head, with a white cloak, and two daggers. It floating in the air like a half deflated balloon.

Haku quickly conjured up a fire spell and burned the monster alive. A treasure chest appeared.  
"That was a Pumpkin Head" Haku said dusting off his robe. "He is a low level monster…"  
"Yay!" I jumped, "A treasure chest! We beat it!" Then I stopped. "Wasn't this too easy?"

Haku opened the treasure chest "I got a Health Potion." The he continued into the cave, "This was just one monster out of hundreds that might be in this cave… luckily, I've been here before, so I know this cave like the back of my hand."

**Cave Level 5, Floor 4**

The cave became dark and gloomy as we reached the last floor. It was almost impossible to see.  
"Stay close, so you can see me." Haku's voice became troubled.  
"Is anything wrong Haku? You seem to be worried about something."

He didn't answer. Something brushed against my leg and I turned around to see what it was. The grunty on my head, that I've almost forgotten about, grabbed onto me more tighter and I almost attacked him. I couldn't see Haku anymore and became worried, but on the map I could see that there was only one room left unexplored. Knowing Haku and what he has told me about the caves, I realized that this room in front of me was a treasure room. I walked in.

"Haku! I was scared, I turned around for one second and… HAKU!" His dead body was lying on the ground under a huge monster that looked like Bigfoot. Haku's ghost was still in the room. "Kurumi, run! He is too strong… I'll find you later!"

Too late… the Bigfoot came charging at me, I could feel the floor shake as the monster ran towards me. I tried to escape from the room, but the door that lead out wouldn't let me go. I took a deep breath and took out my weapons. The creature roared, and I almost fell to the floor. I ran under it and attacked from behind.

**Weapon Ineffective**

"Kurumi, what are you doing? I told you, run!" Haku kept on nagging.  
"I would, but the door won't budge!" I answered him as I tried to dodge the creature's attacks.

The Bigfoot monster went berserk, he started stomping his feet. His insane stomping made the whole room shaky. The he struck and caught me off guard. I flew towards the wall and hit it hard. My health bar went down to red, which identified that I was close to dying.

Everything went blurry, I could only make out the huge figure of the monster as it flopped to the floor defeated, then I passed out.

**Well, that's it for this chapter, please review! And if you have any suggestions for the story, like which characters should "Kurumi" meet during her adventure in The World, or what should happen to her, please tell me!**


	4. Chapter 3 The Legendary Hackers

_I don't own ".Hack"_

**I don't know… I love leaving cliffhangers! Hehehe  
Amida-Vine and Puppyguy13**, **I'm adding your characters to the story! Thanks a lot guys!**

**Chapter 3 "The Legendary .Hacker"**

I woke up in my dorm. My roommate, Saigi, was already online. I'm not sure when they began allowing boys and girls to occupy the same dormitory. In the beginning I was against the fact of sharing a room with a guy. The administration told me that I had to live with him, because apparently Kyoto University didn't have any dorms remaining for girls. But now I've become really attached to Saigi.

"Yes, she just woke up." Saigi said though the mouthpiece, "I'll be right back…" He typed in the AFK command, and took off his FMD (Virtual Headset).  
"How are you feeling?" He walked up to me and sat next to me on my bed.  
"Who were you talking to?" I know I may have sounded naïve, but I didn't have any friends on The World except for Haku, and Haku didn't know Saigi's username… come to think of it, I didn't even know it.  
"Now, now… You know it is not nice to answer a question with another question!" He started to sound like my mother. Obviously he was avoiding my question.

Suddenly, I realized that I was still logged on.  
"The game!" I quickly sat up and found myself wearing a tight undershirt, and shorts. "_How__ the hell did that happen?" _I thought to myself.  
Saigi pretended not to notice, and calmed me down. "When I came back last night, I found you passed out at your desk, so I carried you over to your bed and tucked you in!" He hummed a few notes of a lullaby, and smiled at me.

"But…" I was really freaked out by what had happened the night before in The World, but somehow his smile made me at ease.  
"I saved your game for you." He patted my head and went to his computer.

To tell you the truth, I hate to be treated like a baby, but what made it alright with Saigi was that he called me his "Little Kitty" which always made me blush.  
"Wait, you still didn't answer me!" He sat down at his desk, "A friend of mine…" then he put on his FMD and booted back into the game.

After a few minutes in the shower I decided to get back online, since I did sleep through half of my classes. So I logged on.

**You've Got Mail!**

**

* * *

**

**Subject: **Hello. **From: **Tsukasa

Hello, I just wanted to see if you were ok. After the boss battle, that is.

Please meet me at the following server at 3:00 pm tomorrow.

-Tsukasa

**Date:** xx/xx/20xx

* * *

I looked at the date and the time, "_That's__ in about 10 minutes!_" I thought to myself, "_But…__ who is he? And how did he get my e-mail address?_"  
I needed answers, and the only way to get them was to meet up with this guy…

**S (Sigma) Server Zone: Twilight, Sacred, Untouched.  
**

"_What__ is this place?_" I was teleported into a place unlike anything you could imagine. The whole server looked as if it were immersed under water, and if you looked up you could make out the distorted reflection of the sun, and a lot of dead trees were growing throughout the area. The area didn't have a map which made me even more uneasy. When I journeyed my way through the decayed jungle I found myself in an open area. I felt like I was being watched.

"So you came…" a familiar voice came out of nowhere.  
"Where are you?" I unsheathed my twin blades, ready to fight, even though I would probably loose.  
"You don't need those." Right as the voice said that my weapons dissolved into thin air.  
"_A__ cheat code!_" That was the only logical explanation, "_Weapons__ don't just disappear!_"

A figure of a Wave master appeared in the background. As he came closer I could see more than just his outer figure. He had short silver hair, and two red identical air symbols followed along his cheekbones and ended at the level of his mouth. He wore a brown hat, and a brown robe with a white vest over it. His staff looked like a crescent moon with a red bead held between the two edges.

"I am Tsukasa," he smiled introducing himself, this time his voice sounded more young and innocent, "You don't need to worry, I just wanted to talk to you."

I couldn't stop staring at a strange object floating behind him that looked kind of like a giant dumbbell, then it disappeared.  
"Who are you?" I was far more perplexed than I had ever been. I suddenly became paralyzed, and couldn't move an inch.  
"I am Tsukasa, and you… Kurumi, will have to carry on my legacy…" He looked down sadly, and came closer. As he approached me I noticed something unusual… he was transparent, like a ghost!

I awakened from my paralysis.  
"Huh?" I stepped closer to him, but he told me to stay where I was.

"I'm sure you'll finish it for me! Thank you Kurumi…" Now I was dumbfounded, the wave master's voice sounded a bit like a little innocent girl that was so happy she almost cried.  
"Thank you…" she repeated constantly as a bright light embraced Tsukasa and he disappeared. His weapon was left behind so I walked towards it and picked it up, I decided to keep it since I no longer had my own weapon. But even after Tsukasa disappeared, the feeling of being watched did not yet go away.

**Well? I know, I know… Tsukasa died, I don't know how, but she did. (those who didn't know… Tsukasa is actually a girl…) anyways, leave a review!**


	5. Chapter 4 Hacking 'The World'

_I don't own ".Hack"_

**Here you will find the characters that were recommended for the story, "Murakami" and "Miru Santoru"! Puppyguys13, sorry I had to add the shoes…**

**Chapter 4 "Hacking 'The World'"**

"What do you mean you can't buy it?" What was I thinking arguing with an NPC at the weapon shop.  
"Newbie!"  
"Idiot…"  
I was beginning to think I was out of my mind, "Ohh yeah? Why don't you come here and say that to my face?"

I didn't care that everyone was laughing at me, all I cared about right now was selling this stupid staff that Tsukasa left behind. It was a very nice staff, but I was not able to use it because of my class.  
"I'm sorry… I couldn't help but to notice your choice of weapon…" A guy walked up to me.  
"Who do you think you are?" Right now I was too angry to notice anything… even the fact that Balmung was standing across the street watching our every move.  
"Ohh, how impolite of me… please allow me to start over." he cleared his throat, "My name is Murakami, I'm a lvl. 14 Blade master. And you are?"  
"Kurumi…" I calmed down a little, "I'm a lvl.3 Twin User…"

Murakami had a cute, young looking character that wore a orange-red yukata with yellow symbols, a deep red samurai shoulder-armor, and low-level wooden sandals… I'm guessing he was going for a samurai look. His hair was bright red, and his green eyes stood out a lot, which made him look even cuter and more innocent. On his left cheek he had a fire symbol. He carried around a Katana that was slung across his back.

"A Twin User?" I could tell he wondered about why was I carrying a high level staff, "But how come are you carrying a staff with you?"  
I didn't know how to reply to him… "I found it!" well, it was partly true.  
"A staff this rare? I haven't seen anyone else with it, are you sure its not a cheat item?" He was starting to sound annoying.

"I'm sure, I just found it! Umm… a monster dropped it." I was trying to sound convincing, but it didn't work. I think that Murakami started to suspect me of being a hacker. I finally noticed Balmung when he walked past us without even saying a word, and headed towards the Chaos Gate where he finally disappeared.

He finally gave in.  
"Ok, I believe you! Do you want to join up with my friend and me? We are going to train." He looked around, "He should be here any minute now… Ahh, there he is!"  
I looked around to see who he was talking about.  
"Miru Santoru, a lvl. 18 Heavy Blade User" he said.

Miru didn't really look that strong, except for his weapon that he always carried around on his shoulder. It was a large, flat sword that was almost three times bigger than he was. He didn't match either… Miru wore a blue t-shirt, red sweatpants, and green shoes. He had short dark brown hair and a scar on his eye. Even though he looked tough and cool, he needed to work on his manners.

"Miru! I'd like you-" Murakami was cut off.  
"Are we going to train or not?" Miru had a deep voice.  
Murakami turned to me, "So? How about it? Will you join our team?"  
"Sure…" something got my attention but then it disappeared, "In a few minutes, tell me the keywords and I'll find you there."

Murakami added me to friends.  
"We-" He was cut off by Miru again.  
"You are too low of a level, get lost!" He needed to work on how he treats people he doesn't even know.  
"Miru, Miru…" Murakami tried to calm him down, "Just give her a chance! We are going to be at: 'Sigma: grassland, calm, field' See you there!"  
I typed in /**bye> ** and waved to them.

I started to walk to the Chaos Gate after a few minutes of arguing with an NPC again. A strange creature that appeared to be somewhat like a cat, flew up to me. It wore a wizard's robe, and a pointy witch's hat. We teleported to the same place I met Tsukasa.

"Maha." The cat took off its hat and bowed introducing itself.  
"Huh?" I was freaking out, "Why are we here? Who are you?"  
"Maha…" He introduced himself again, then said "You were chosen by Tsukasa!"  
"Tsukasa?" I looked at the staff I held in my hand, "Where is Tsukasa?"  
"Dead." Maha replied. "_Was__ he a player or some kind of an AI_?"  
"But… why did he chose me?" I was a low-level Twin User, how could I possibly be the chosen one?

Maha flew in circles around me, and made a back flip.  
"Forget Tsukasa."  
"Wait, was it he who saved me from the monster in that cave?" I wanted the answers.  
"Forget Tsukasa." He was like a broken record. I sighed.  
"Change your class." It finally settled down in front of me.  
"What? Why?" I took a pause, "Is it even possible?"  
"… I will change it for you." Maha finally said after a moment of silence.

Before I could say anything, a bright light surrounded me and changed my appearance. I was now a wave master, my hair and eyes were still the same color, and my face was the same exact shape as before, but now I was wearing a black robe with red designs. My hair was braided, and I had two blue air symbols running alongside of my cheekbones.

**So? I promise that in the next one where will be more fighting, because Pirre keeps on nagging me about writing more fighting scenes… so there you have it folks, two chapters in one day! Hope you enjoy reading these. Leave your review!**


	6. Chapter 5 Goodbye

_I don't own ".Hack"_

**I'm weird! Yay for weirdness!  
This chapter was written by Tsukasa (its short, kind of…)**

**Chapter 5 "The World Says Goodbye Sometimes."**

"Maha…" She was leading me towards a cave, "Where are we going?"  
"We must help…" Maha didn't speak that much, but anytime she did it seemed like I was the only one who understood her.

Maha pulled me into a cave in _Delta: Ruins, Night, Magic_. It is usually not like her to do this, and especially without explaining anything first.

"We must help…" Maha repeated as she teleported us onto the last floor in front of a treasure room. She pulled me in. A giant monster, looking like I would imagine Bigfoot looked like, was going berserk. Behind him was a lvl. 3 Twin User. She was wearing beginner clothes. I targeted her, and saved her E-mail address. She was nearly dead.

While I was doing that Maha summoned the dumbbell monster, then I conjured up a spell. Together we defeated the monster in one hit.

**S (Sigma) server zone: Twilight, Sacred, Untouched. **

"Do you think she got my message?" Maha floated in front of me.  
"She is here…" Maha teleported out right as she said that. I felt a thrust, something went through me. My body collapsed, and I became a ghost.

I turned around. "Aura…" she finally did it, she finally succeeded in killing me… "This not the end you know!"  
She looked sad, her eyes were filled with tears. Could AI even feel emotions? For the first time, she spoke, "Goodbye Tsukasa…" then, once again, she fell into her deep slumber.

I smiled and turned around, in the distance I saw the girl who will carry out my destiny.  
"So you came…" I said to her from the distance.  
"Where are you?" She unsheathed her twin blades ready to fight.  
"You don't heed those." I sent my dumbbell monster to destroy her weapons, it succeeded and her twin blades vanished.

I walked towards her.  
"I am Tsukasa," I smiled introducing myself, "You don't need to worry, I just wanted to talk to you."  
"Who are you?" she seemed to be nervous.  
"I am Tsukasa, and you… Kurumi, will have to carry on my legacy…" I looked down at my feet, realizing that these were my last minutes in The World.

"Huh?" she stepped closer, but I asked her to keep her distance.  
"I'm sure you'll finish it for me! Thank you Kurumi…" I was crying, I could finally log out, and see the real world!  
"Thank you…" A beam of while light surrounded me, and I disappeared from The Worlds existence.

**I just felt like revealing one of the mysteries… but wait until you hear Balmung's secret! Whoops said too much… Hehehe evil grin **


	7. Chapter 6 Betrayed

_(This story was edited by my brother…)  
I don't own ".Hack" _

**Or do I? ok… I'm not excepting any more Characters…. Thank you all!  
Pirre the Pharoah of Nagging ( You misspelled "pharaoh") I'll add "Sasha", and that's the last one to be added… unless my good friend Kumi wants to add one… I think this Chapter is my best yet!**

**Chapter 6 "Betrayed."**

**S (Sigma) Server Zone: Grassland, Calm, Field.**

"Hey guys!" I finally caught up to Murakami and Miru.  
"Kurumi! You look… different!" Murakami greeted me with a warm smile, while Miru walked past me and took interest in the floating cat.  
"Is this one of your friends?" He asked me "nicely", then started to talk to Maha, "It is a very interesting cat-character you have."

Maha took off his hat and bowed. The he settled beside me.  
"I can see he is not a talkative type…" Murakami's troubled eyes were focused on Maha. How did he know that the cat was a guy? For all he knew it could have been a girl.

To tell you the truth, _I_ didn't even know for sure. That time, after Tsukasa's disappearance, was the only time we spoke. That time Maha had a boyish voice, so I started to refer to him as a "He".  
"Yes, he isn't…"Something about the way Murakami acted around Maha seemed suspicious.  
"Kurumi, when did you become a Wave Master?" Was it just me, or did Miru just call me by my name?  
"I…" I had no idea of how to explain what happened when I met Maha.  
"You finished a quest…" Maha somehow talked inside of my head.  
"I… finished some kind of a quest…" I was starting to catch on to what Maha was trying to say, "It was a one time quest, and when finished allowed you to change your class if you wanted…" I looked at Maha. He smiled and nodded.

"Aww man… it was a one-timer? Oh well, I think you look better as a Wave Master, then a Twin User!" Murakami smiled, but his eyes never left Maha.  
"Yeah!" Miru agreed, "So, how about we test out your strength?"  
I nodded, and followed them into a garden that looked like a labyrinth.

"What is this place?" I've never been in a garden area before.  
"This is a labyrinth… It is like a cave, but more monsters…" I think Miru was starting to warm up to me, "Although I killed all of them."  
"What about Murakami, you should-… A treasure chest!" I ran up to it and was about to open it.  
Murakami smiled weekly, "Should we tell her?"  
"Tell me what?" I opened it.

A monster that looked like a treasure chest with sharp teeth, and burning red eyes started chasing me around the half of the labyrinth. Murakami started running after me with a katana in his hand, "Hold on, I'll kill it." I stopped for a second, and hit the Mimic with a basic level spell.

**Hit:** -3 HP

"_Only__ 3 HP!_" I started running again. This time I tried my highest level spell attack.

**Hit: **-17 HP

**Mimic was defeated**

"Yay!" I jumped.  
Miru and Murakami finally caught up with me. I walked up to Miru, and playfully punched him, "You said you cleared the area!"  
He looked at Murakami, "You missed one!" Murakami ignored him.  
"That was good." Murakami patted my shoulder smiling. I smiled in return.  
"Are you ready for the boss?" Miru headed towards a big room and stopped at the entrance. "Ladies first!" I think he was sick or something, he was all of the sudden very nice to me, so I went up to feel his forehead. He snapped at me and told me to just walk into the room. I continued on.

"So, where's the boss…" There was a cute little animal that sort of looked like a fox. "_That__ couldn't possibly be the boss they were talking about…" _I though to myself. Then I targeted the creature, "A level 28 fox demon!" They were joking, right? "Alright, we can take him! Come on!"  
Murakami was about to walk into the room, but Miru blocked his way.  
"Miru… What are you doing? She won't be able to defeated it all by herself!" Murakami was getting nervous.  
"She wanted to fight, you wanted to prove to me that she is worth dragging around with us. So, she will fight by herself!" Miru smirked.

I looked down.. if he wants me to fight, I will. I grabbed on to my staff, and conjured my strongest spell, and hit the monster with it. Like I would imagine, it didn't hurt the demon that much. And if it got a hit on me, I would probably die. I tried a variety of different spells and found an Ice spell to be most effective.

I stopped fighting and noticed Murakami. He was watching my battle intensively. Could he really be the kind of person who would betray me? I couldn't believe what I just witnessed.

I didn't realize that the creature took a swing at me until a dumbbell monster, just like Tsukasa's appeared in front of me, and counterattacked the monster. I noticed something I haven't before, inside the sphere in the middle that connected two larger spheres on the dumbbell monster was a golden bracelet.

After a few more Ice spells the creature fell down defeated. I went up to a treasure chest that was left behind, and opened it.  
"Kurumi!" Murakami was filled with glee, "You did it!"  
I looked at him as he started walking to me, but the dumbbell monster blocked the entrance to the room. "K-kurumi? Kurumi, please listen to me!"  
I looked at him without saying a word, as did Maha. Miru avoided the dumbbell monster and walked towards me, but Maha flew up to him and stopped him from coming any closer. Then he turned to me and teleported us away.

**Kurumi has gained a level: (Level 5)**

I don't know to where we were teleported, and right now I could care less. "They used me…" I picked up a beautiful lycolis flower, "Used me…" I was sitting on top of a big rock, plucking the petals of the flower. Maha was sitting under, in the shade of a rock, looking up at me.  
I needed something to get my mind off of that. I saw a pond with water. I had to check it out, since it was the first time I saw one in The World. I jumped off the rock that I was sitting on and ran towards the pond.

It was nothing special… I was about to walk back to the giant rock, but I bumped into Maha.  
He didn't say anything this time, just looked at me and his eyes met mine. He handed me the petals from the lycolis I was holding in my hand, but took away from me the "+4 Strength Necklace", and threw it into the pond.  
"Hey!" I just got that necklace it my battle with the Demon Fox, "What did you do this for?"  
He pointed at the pond. A giant sweat-drop swirled out of the pond. It had weird looking eyes and thick lips.

"Did you drop this Golden Ax? Or this Silver Ax?" It Spoke! A pop up appeared on my screen. The choices were "Golden Ax", "Silver Ax", or "Neither". Well I didn't drop either of them, so I picked "Neither" option.  
The Giant sweat-drop sounded worried. "What? Neither? Hmmm… well Just take this instead!" The it swirled up and disintegrated into nothingness.

**Item Found: **"+15 Strength Necklace."

I thanked Maha, and started to walk back to my "thinking rock".  
"Heeelp!" The scream made me trip and fall on my ass, but besides the pain I could feel the entire ground shaking below me. Then suddenly, there was a horrible, deafening roar, unlike anything I had ever heard.

**By the way, there is a story parallel to this one. It is story of Murakami's adventures. If you want to read it you'll need to find my friend, Amida-Vine. There you will learn about Murakami's secrets and why he acts like that around Maha. Please review!**


	8. Chapter 7 Shasha The Wave Master

_I don't own ".Hack"_

**You know F. Jackson, you didn't have to criticize my story! Heck, you didn't even have to read it! You know I hope you choke on your own shit… Hope you remember me, because I'll be the one torturing you in hell! Kira (sorry guys… that was my evil side.)**

**Chapter 7 "Sasha The Wave Master."**

"Please Help me!" A girl came running to me.  
"What's wrong?" I stood up and looked at her.

The girl wearing a short red dress on straps that barely covered her thighs. She had tan tights, and high-heeled red shoes. She had dark skin and flowing white hair that reached her shoulders at most. Around her right arm she had a red loose shawl, and a beginners staff in her left hand. She was being chased by at level 15 rock-golem.

"What were you thinking, challenging a golem who is 13 levels above you?" I joined her on the run.  
"I… I though it would be a good experience…" I could see that she was regretting it.  
"Alright, go hide somewhere… I'll kill it!" I stopped and faced the golem as it was still charging towards the girl.  
"Maha… are you ready?" I looked at him. He nodded and summoned the dumbbell monster. I figured that the water spells would work the best on the rock creature, so I cast a water spell.

**Spell ineffective.**

"_What_" I was surprised to see it be ineffective. A green aura surrounded the monster. I tried a variety of different spells but none seemed to work. "_This__ is bad… I have to defeat it quick._"  
"Maha…" I turned for help, "Any ideas?"

He flew up to the golem, scratched it, and hid behind the dumbbell monster. At first I didn't understand how scratching would do anything, but I finally realized that he was using the dumbbell monster for counter attacks. The aura disappeared, and the golem seemed to be weakened.  
Maha moved aside giving me a cue to fight. Once again I hit it with my strongest Ice spell.

**Hit:** -10 HP

"_One__ more hit!_" I should have paid more attention to the monster, because when I wasn't looking, it took an opportunity to attack. It sliced me, then again and again.

**Player Kurumi Defeated. **

I didn't feel pain, the only thing I felt was regret. I was floating in the water, with nothing around me. It felt like an eternity, I laid there forever consumed by bright light.

The figure of a cat appeared in front of me. "Maha…?" I wondered what was Maha doing here. He smiled at me and made a back-flip. Then another figure of a wave master came into my view. I sat up.

"What happened?" I rubbed my head and looked around.  
"Hi, I'm Sasha… The girl you saved from the golem." She smiled helping me up.  
"Oh yeah…" Now I remembered, "But, what happened to the monster?"  
"I killed it!" She sounded happy. I didn't mind her taking all of the points, I mean she did stumble onto the monster before me, so it wasn't a KS (Kill Steal).

"You were lucky." She looked aside, "If that monster didn't drop the phoenix down, you would be still dead…"  
So I was dead! "I'm lucky you killed it!" I tried to make her forget the incident.  
"But…" She stopped and looked around. The music in the background changed to that of a fighting mode, and the whole screen faded black.

**Sorry for a short chapter, but I didn't have enough time… anyways, Please review! Also give me a few ideas on what should happen later in the story… I'm running out of ideas. Hehehe…**


	9. Chapter 8 A Friend To The Rescue

_I don't own ".Hack"_

**If you want to know Balmung's secret say "Aye!"  
Too bad, I'm not telling! At least not for a while…**

**Chapter 8 "A Friend To The Rescue."**

A huge bird, the size of a giant airplane soared over us. Maha kept pulling me away, but I couldn't leave Sasha here by herself.  
"Sasha!" I called to her, "Come on, we have to get out of here."  
"I bet I could get a lot of rare goodies from this thing" she just stood there looking up at the humongous bird. Then it elevated into the sky.

"Sasha, now is your chance, get out of there!"  
"I can take it, don't worry…" She took her stance.  
The bird faced the area where Sasha was standing, and raced towards the ground with incredible speed. I ran to her, but I was too late.

"Sir Balmung…" Magi walked up to Balmung who was standing on top of a building in Delta.  
"What is it, Magi?" Balmung turned towards him.  
"As you can see there are monsters attacking inside the towns… would you have anything to do with this?" Magi said fixing his hair.  
"…"  
"Sir, you can not just come up with different events, without telling anyone, I mean we already have 24 players-" Magi was cut off.  
"It's not my fault they didn't read the BBS board."

Magi sighed, "Anyways… there is a problem" he was cut off again.  
"Kid, who are you to lecture me on how I should run the game?"  
"But sir…" Magi cleared his thought, "it's about… her."  
"Aura? Has she awakened?"  
"Not exactly… but she has killed one of the players."

Balmung looked away, "Tsukasa…"  
"Huh?" Magi walked up to the rail of the roof and looked down, "So you know… who the chosen one is. You know about Kurumi…"

A cold shiver ran down Balmung's spine, and he teleported out not saying a word .

**Monster defeated**

"Kurumi…?" A familiar figure with a friendly voice stood over me and Sasha.  
"Nn" I sat up rubbing my head, I must have fallen really hard for my vision to be so blurry. Then everything came into focus, "M-Murakami? What happened?"

He crouched down and put his hand on my shoulder. "You were attacked…" he said it so simply for it to be true.  
Then I remembered a little, "The flying monster!" I looked at Sasha who was unconscious laying beside me. I looked around there was stone wall around me, "_Am__ I in a cave?_" Also, Maha was nowhere to be found.

Then all of my memory came back to me. 'Slap!' "Murakami, you betrayed me!" My eyes began to tear. He tried to calm me down, "No… it wasn't me! I can explain everything…"  
"Like hell you can! I saw it, I saw it all!" I jumped up and my head hit on something cold and hard. I passed out.

"Thanks, but please take care of the other Wave Master."  
"But, how can I trust you with Kurumi?" I was still unconscious, but I could hear voices, two of them. I could recognize one, it belonged to Murakami. Another one sounded somewhere in between a deep, mature man's voice and a voice of a boy in his late-teen years.

"Ok…" Murakami agreed. "_Murakami__, what are you agreeing to? Please don't leave me…_" Then the voices became more distant, and I couldn't hear a thing. Once again I was floating in a lake, surrounded with bright light. Although this time it was different somehow… In the distance I saw a girl, she was wearing a light white dress. Her skin was pale, almost white, and her hair had an unusual color that was kind of hard to describe with words.

"Where am I?" Even though I was thinking to myself, everything I thought came out in words, "Who are you?"  
The girl in white faced me, "I am Aura… don't worry Kurumi, you are not dead. And since you will awaken soon, know that we will meet again!"

"Aura!" I gasped waking up. Music played around me, and wind blew though my hair. I looked around. I was just outside of the Delta server, MacAnu. But I seemed to be floating in the air above water, then I realized that I was on a boat.

"So you are finally awake…"  
I looked up, "B-Balmung?" He put me down, and smiled patting my head.  
"You've slept for about two days now…" He chuckled.  
"WHAT? You mean I missed my exams!" Right as the boat stopped, I ran onto the shore. "Whoa, whoa… I was only kidding, calm down." This was so unlike Balmung. "So then how long?" I used his favorite emotion. I typed in ** /lookhard> **.

He walked off the boat, and led me towards a big clock tower. "There," He pointed up, "it's only 9:58 pm…" Then he started to walk away.  
"You will be ok, right?" he turned around right as he reached the Chaos Gate, "If you need anything you'll find me in Lambda server, but you can go there only after you've reached level 20, so try not to get yourself killed."

I nodded, and he teleported through the gate. "_Was__ this really the Balmung who I met before?_" The clock stroke ten and I decided to log off and get some rest before my exam tomorrow. Still I couldn't shake off the feeling that today Balmung acted somewhat like Saigi.

I took off my FMD and became immersed in darkness. I looked to my roommate's side of the dorm. He was asleep on his bed with a history book and notes for tomorrow's exam. I walked up to him, and put away his notes. "_What__ was I thinking? How could he possibly be Balmung? He was studying all night…"_

"Okimi…" He mumbled my name as I pulled a blanket over him.  
I smiled, and started walking towards my bed, when I noticed that his computer was on. Knowing Saigi, he wouldn't waste electricity, and would always turn off his computer, not just the monitor. I sat down at his desk, and turned on his monitor.

My heart was pounding loud. Saigi never would let me touch his computer, and right now I was scared that he would wake up while I am surfing his files. I heard a rustle behind me, and turned around.

I sighed in relief to find him still sleeping. I cautiously skimmed the files on his desktop, and came across an interesting file, "The World's secrets" I know that he has been playing the game, but I couldn't imagine why would someone have a folder specifically for the game, and why would it say secret if it really was a secret. Inside the folder it was like a labyrinth, on file led into another, and that one branched off into three separate files, and so on.

"Hey! What are you doing?" I heard Saigi's voice, and turned around.  
Lucky for me he was still asleep. I never realized that he talked in his sleep. Still, I got off his computer, turned it off and went to catch some sleep before the history exam tomorrow.

**Please review and tell me what you think! Pirre the Pharaoh of Nagging, they DO have phoenix down in .Hack! I looked it up! HA! IN YOUR FACE!**


	10. Chapter 9 History Exam

_I don't own ".Hack"_

**This is just a small chapter about Okimi's normal day in college. **

**Dongo is a Japanese tasty thingy!**

**Chapter 9 "History Exam."**

"Saigi… Saigi wake up!" I was trying to wake him up for about 3 minutes now, "Wake up or we are going to miss our exam!"  
He looked at the clock hanging above his bed, "We still have time… can't you wait five minutes?"

Fifteen minutes later we were running to our class. Surprisingly we made it in time. "See, I told you we'll make it!" Saigi smiled as he walked to his seat. I felt like punching him, "_Yeah__! Barely made it!_" I walked to my seat and tried to remember the material.

"The test will begin now!" Right as the professor said that the room fell into silence, and everyone began to write.

**flashback**

"Hi. I came here to ask you if you know anything about events occurring on The World, I'm new around here and I just wanted to know if I could make any new friends." Some guy woke me up from my sleep.

I opened my eyes and saw a cute boy with long red hair looking over me. I haven't seen him around before, and being in college for two years you would see every single person at least once. Besides I was good with people's faces. Then it hit me… his voice!

"Murakami!" I became angry, "How dare you let me fight all by myself! You used me! And… How the hell did you get in?" I know that I always lock the door before I go to bed. I looked across the room.  
"_No__ wonder the door was open… Saigi was probably late for his class like always, and forgot to lock it…_"

I started to argue with the guy who played as Murakami, and he dashed out the door.  
"Maha isn't who you think he is!" Murakami walked out, and before he closed the door he said to me, "I'm sorry, I really am…"

"Please put your pencils down, and turn in your exams."

"_What__? It's over already?_" I look at the clock, it said two hours had already passed. I looked down at my empty paper, and sighed walking out of the classroom.

When I entered my room I saw a bouquet of flowers, with a note that read " I am really sorry, please forgive me if you can, and let me explain what happened." I crumbled the note and threw it away. Grabbed my purse, and was about to run out of the dorm when I stumbled on another note, this time from Saigi.

* * *

"Please come to the café on the corner of Wasagari Blvd.

-Saigi"

* * *

I smiled and made my way outside. It was snowing like crazy, yet Saigi was waiting for me outside of the café on Wasagari boulevard.

"I'm glad you could come…" He gave me a big hug.  
"What are you doing? You'll catch a cold!" I led him inside.  
"Oh, so now you are my mother?" he laughed.  
I blushed a little, "No… I just care…"

He went to the register, and bought two hot chocolates and a few dongos. Then he came and sat at our table.  
"Okimi… I'm really worried about you! You seem to be playing that game too much, and today during the exam you were totally spaced out. You know you can talk to me, if anything is bothering you…"

I looked down at my hot chocolate as I was thinking to myself, "_I__ wish I could tell you, Saigi… but it is just too complicated for you to understand, plus how can you tell someone that you are in love with them if you don't know how they feel about you…_"

"Okimi… you are doing it again! Spacing out, that is." He took my hand, "Don't worry, you can tell me…" I blushed and looked away. On the other side of the street I saw that same exact guy, the one who busted into my dorm the other day, walking into a bookstore

"Well…" I started, "In The World there is this guy named Murakami… It's really a funny story…"  
"Continue, I'm listening" Saigi was the sweetest guy you could ever find.  
"Well, we were in a team with this other player named Miru. We fought together through the entire labyrinth garden area, but when we got to the boss those two just stood there watching me fight, and not doing anything… they wouldn't even help me."

I sipped my hot chocolate, and took a bite off of a dongo, "That guy who plays as Murakami just moved to our school, just a few doors down from our dormitory. He sneaked into our room because someone forgot to close the door!"

Saigi looked away swallowing a dongo.  
"Anyways, he said it wasn't his fault, that he did not betray me… but I don't know what to believe… what I saw, or what he said."  
"Well, give the guy a chance!" Now _he_ was acting like _my_ mother, "Maybe he is right…"  
I looked down again, and he smirked, "I can tell that there is something else you are not telling me."

"Saigi…" I took a deep breath, "I… Where do you work?"  
He cleared his thought, "That's not important…" He always seemed to avoid that subject, "we are here to talk about your problems, because they really seem to interfere with your studying…"

"Well, there is another guy… Balmung!" I said looking at him.  
Suddenly I could see fear in Saigi's eyes, "You mean the legendary admin? He still plays the game?"  
I put my hands over the steam coming off of the drink, it felt warm, "Yes… he does. And he has saved me many times…"

**Well, it was a little longer then expected… I hope you liked it! Please review! And give me some ideas on what should happen later in the story… (not necessarily in the next chapter)**


	11. Chapter 10 Battle Of Good And Evil

_I don't own ".Hack"_

**Really people, I can't just sit here and make this all up… oh wait, yes I can! Evil Laughter**

**Chapter 10 "Battle Of Good And Evil"**

"Saigi! Are you even listening to me?" Sometimes I get annoyed with his attitude.  
"Ok, ok… I promise will lock the door before I leave…" he put on his FMD, and logged into The World.

"_Hehehe…__ now I can see his character…_" I thought to myself.  
The Saigi's hand went flying back, and he spilled his orange juice all over me. "HEY!" I screamed at the top of my lungs. Then he took off his FMD.  
"What's going on?" He looked at my shirt that was covered with orange pulp.

"Why is your shirt soaked in orange juice?" he poked my stomach.  
"I would like to ask YOU the same thing? What are you thinking spilling your stupid juice all over me? I- oh?" Our door was open, and I just saw Enn walk by. Enn was the name of Murakami player.  
"Go… tell him you are sorry!" Saigi pushed me, then went back to his computer.

"Umm… Enn?" I followed him down the hall until he stopped and looked at me. "Okimi… why are you covered with orange juice?" He tilted his head in confusion. "Grr" I twitched, "I wanted to tell you that I am sorry about the other day… I hope we are still friends…" I was so embarrassed, because I usually don't apologize that much…  
He smiled and nodded.

"Kurumi!" Murakami ran toward me, "Do you want to train a little?"  
"No…" he seemed a little confused when I said that, "I am waiting for someone."  
"Ok… I understand. See you around!" He walked away.

Balmung walked passed me, and threw me a smile.  
"Balmung…" I followed him.  
"What?" He seemed happy today.  
"Maybe we can teem up and train a little?" I smiled.

"No…" He answered me back, "I have to do something!"

I stopped and looked down. What goes around comes around.  
"I see…" The looked up to see him walk away.  
"Take care of yourself, Okimi…" He teleported out as he said that.

"Maha? Where have you been?" I was sitting on my 'thinking rock' again.  
Maha flew up to me and sat beside me handing me a lycolis. Then he laid back and stared at the sky. It was almost night time, and the stars were out. He pointed at the sky.

I laid down with Maha, and looked to where he was pointing. "That looks like my roommate Saigi…" I said it blushing.  
Right as I said that Maha stood up and looked at me weird.  
"What?"  
Then he pointed at the same group of stars again.  
"What about it?" I looked up again, this time closer, "Balmung of Azure Sky?" I jumped down from the rock. All of the sudden everything became clear to me. "He called me Okimi…" I gasped.

"There you are…" Murakami approached me with a strange catlike creature that looked like kind of like Maha.  
"Were you looking for me?" I tried to smile.  
"Where is Maha?" He sounded demanding all of the sudden.

I looked at the cat, and then back at him, "Why?"  
Murakami looked around to see if Maha was around.  
"He is using you! Maha is evil… some say that he is Morgana itself…"  
"What is Morgana?" My head started to hurt.  
"Forget it… Where is he, where is Maha?"  
I could tell this wasn't good, "I don't know… I haven't seen him since that time you rescued me from the giant bird.

"Alright… I'll trust you on that, but if you find him, please tell me… I don't want you to disappear like my brother…" he teleported out with a loud sigh.

"Maha…" I flopped down on the grass, "Is it true? Are you really evil?" I didn't know what to think… Maha can't be evil, he is helping me!  
But Murakami, he also can't be evil, because he saved me many times. I buried my head in my hands and sat there for a while.

"Weeping in despair I see…"  
"B-Balmung?" I looked up at him.  
"I had some spear time, thought maybe we could train a little."  
I smiled and nodded. He helped me up, and we went off to kick some monster ass!

**Kurumi has gained a level: (Level 17)**

"I had great time, but I must go now." he put his hand on my head, then started at walk away.  
"Alright… I'll see you later, Saigi!" Maha and I teleported out, right as Balmung was about to say something. So what if I knew his secret… I wouldn't tell anyone. I decided to call it a day, and log off to see what Saigi's reaction was. I hit the log off button, but it didn't work.

Maha looked at me with an innocent look as if he was saying "_Are__ you going to leave me here all by myself?_". I just thought that it was a little bug in the system, and didn't make a big deal out of it.

I went to the pond again, and dropped in a low-level short sword.  
"Did you drop this gold ax, or this silver one?" The giant sweat-drop appeared to me for the second time. I hit neither. "What? Neither? Well just take this in return…"

**Item found: Tnemgarf.rom**

"_Since__ when did they start having items with an extension code at the end of it?_" This day was getting weirder and weirder by the minute.

Then Maha took the item from me and put it around my neck, it seemed to fit perfectly. "It's a magical item found in a quest." Maha spoke in my mind, and then pointed towards two figures that approached us.

"Kurumi… I see you've found Maha…" Murakami took out his katana. It looked like it had some kind of a code on it, "Please step aside… Maho, her ready!" A strange looking cat that looked kind of like Maha summoned a blue Dumbbell monster. I was ready to stop everything that was going on and get some answers, but instead I turned to Maha… by my facial expression he could see that I was very dumbfounded.

Maha flew around me, and settled in front of me, blocking my view.

The cat that stood in beside Murakami dashed towards Maha, aiming a strike. "No!" I ran in front of Maha, blocking the cat from attacking.

A bright flash of light filled the area, and everything became silent. I couldn't hear the wind anymore, nor the rustle of the grass. When everything came into focus again, Murakami stood by himself in amazement.  
"The Fragment…" He dazed into the empty space, "Kurumi, you have a piece of the Fragment?"

I remembered the collar that Maha put around my neck. It looked like a normal chain, but it was its name what caught me offhand. "The Fragment…?" I touched the necklace.

Murakami pushed me aside knocking me off my feet, and making his way towards Maha. "You will pay for this, you miscalculated piece of hacker's code" He ran towards Maha with full speed.

"Stop!" Right as I said that, he did. "_Is__ he paralyzed? Did I do this?_" I was stunned. I looked in my spell book and saw 'Bind' attack. And a description under it.

* * *

**Bind**  
_Paralyzes a character or a monster for 30 seconds._

_

* * *

_

I ran to Maha and asked him to teleport someplace safe, where no one could find us. And before we left the area I turned to Murakami.  
"Stay away from me and Maha… I trusted you, you know…" I looked down and left the area with Maha.

I tried logging out again, but it still didn't work. I looked at Maha, "I will go rest for a while… will you be ok here by yourself?" He nodded, and flew around the area to investigating the area, I'm guessing to see if anyone was here and left any marks or pieces of codes behind them. Then he came back and nodded once more telling me that it was ok for me to leave.

I took off my FMD, and walked to my bed. On the other room Saigi was asleep, then out of nowhere I sneezed loudly.  
"Okimi…?" Saigi must have awakened when he heard the sneeze, "I wanted to ask you… how did you find out about Balmung?"  
I smiled even though he couldn't see me in the dark.  
"I somehow, always knew… And also you called me by my name in The World… Good night!" I dived into my bed, and fell asleep right away.

**Well, who would have guessed that Saigi is Balmung? Shaney… good job on guessing, you won the first place! And your prize is… (drum roll) ANOTHER CHAPTER TOMORROW! Hehehe I'm so mean…**


	12. Chapter 11 Time Gate

_I don't own ".Hack"_

**Hey guys, sorry for not writing for a while… anyways, enjoy!  
I bet my brother would want to eat the creature I'm fighting.**

**Chapter 11 "Time Gate"**

"Maha, are you… a PC or an NPC?" I had wondered that for a while now, and finally had decided to ask him. He didn't say anything, just kept of flying around the area and becoming familiar with the place.

When he finally came back, he motioned for me to follow him. We walked into a cave. From my past experiences bad things happened there, but that was when I was with other people… now I was alone. Maha swirled deeper into the cave, and I followed.

If front of me was a rotating sphere with inscriptions on it. This was not the good time for me to fight, I was still mad at Murakami… but I had no choice, Maha kept on pushing me closer and closer to the monster gate.

A giant squid-like creature crawled towards me with a hungry look on its face. I grabbed onto my staff. And cast a level 15 lightning spell.

**Hit:** -31HP

A did a few more lightning spells, but it didn't seem to be weakened, and I ran out of my MP (magic points). The beast seemed furious. It smashed me with its tentacle, and I hit the floor hard.

**Hit:** -19HP

Lucky for me the monster didn't deal too much damage, and my defense was high. "The necklace." Maha was right beside me, and reached out his hand to help me up. "My necklace?" I took it off and held in my hand, then reached my hand out towards the monster, and a white flash came from it. It transformed and became a little fish that was flapping on the floor like a fish out of the water.

In the statue room I noticed a glowing chest, but still couldn't take my eyes off the necklace. Now it was sparkling with different colors, and if you looked closer, you could see pieces if code in it. I put around my neck, and walked to the treasure chest, and opened. Darkness consumed me, and I fell onto the cold floor.

When I woke up I could hear the dripping of the water in the empty room. I stood up and looked at Maha that quietly sat next to me. "What happened?" I asked him. He looked up at me with a sad look on his face, then disappeared. I looked at the chest again. I don't know what happened to me, I couldn't remember anything… all that I did remember was who I was, and Maha.

I walked to the chest, and opened it. There was a tablet with something written on it. The words were very old and almost impossible to read. "…Time… successor…" I tried to make out the words.

"Aww man, someone beat me to it again!"  
I turned around clinging onto the transcription.  
"Oh? Say, what's your name?" She looked at me like I was an old friend of hers, "You look like someone I know… maybe you know him too, his name is Tsukasa."

**Well, this is it for now… I won't write as much as I did before, because I really want to finish writing my novel… I'll post it in fan-fic before I publish it, so look for my story, it's called "The Beginning Of The End"  
But I'm still working on the title… **


	13. Chapter 12 Back To The Future

I do not own .Hack/ 

Wow… it has been a while since I have done this…. I hope you guys still remember me! - Well…. Lets continue the story then! Hehehe

Chapter 12 "Back to the Future" 

"Tsukasa…" I said looking around the cave.

In front of me stood a young girl with brown hair, tan skin tone, and she had two earth symbols painted on her face. She was wearing an armor that was kind of revealing. And over her shoulder she was holding a giant two-handed sword.

"I am Mimiru!" she smiled at me. She then grabbed my hand and started to pull me out of the cave. I was speechless, was she talking about the same Tsukasa that I saw die! No, that couldn't be!

"Uhh… Mi-Mimiru…" Apparently she did not yet know that Tsukasa could no longer play this game, and I didn't want to be the one to tell her. "Hold on, lets get out of here. Tsukasa is waiting for me in Sigma server." I couldn't take it anymore, I pulled my hand away and screamed out "Tsukasa is dead!"

Mimiru suddenly stopped and spoke without turning around, "Why would you say something like that?" I walked up to her and placed my hand on her shoulder. "I was there… I saw it with my own eyes." Then, to my surprise she logged out, leaving me all alone in the depth of a dungeon. I finally found my way out onto the open, and teleported back to the city.

**S** **(Sigma)**

I was walking thought the Sigma town, trying to find someone I knew, but no one seemed to be on, and to my surprise Maha was gone as well. I walked to the nearest bridge and looked down at the water. I never before realized how realistic "The World" looked. I spent over an hour gazing at my reflection in the water, and humming along to the background music. The suddenly I felt someone's presence behind me.

I grabbed onto my staff and quickly turned around. A wave master wearing grayish brown robe was standing in front of me, but as soon as I turned around he started to run. I didn't really think much of it in the beginning, but then I noticed his staff. It took a second for my brain to process all of this information, but I second later I found myself running after him. "Tsukasa" I screamed out.

The wave master stopped, and turned around to look at me confused. "Where did you get that staff?" he asked me. "Ehh?" I looked at my staff, and then at his. The staffs were identical to the very small detail. I then came back to my senses and spoke once more. "Tsukasa… it is I Kumuri." I smiled at him. The face changed from a confused look to a shocked look. Tsukasa lowered his head and smiled to himself. "I have nothing to say to you, Kumuri… in the near I will tell you everything!"

I was puzzled by his answer. "Near future?" I walked up to him and kissed him on the cheek. He seemed to blush, but didn't show it much. "Well, I will see you in the near future then…" I started to walk towards the Chaos gate, but the Tsukasa stopped me. "You never answered me. Where did you get this staff?"

"You gave it to me a few days ago, don't you remember? It was right before you disappeared into that white light thingy…" I wondered if he was testing me. "Ohh?" he looked down. "I see…" He smiled softly and walking passed me I saw a tear in his eye. _Was there an emotion in this game that made your character cry!_ I typed in ** /cry ** but nothing happened. "How soon will I see you again?" I asked right before he walked thought the gate.

He turned to me, "You won't…" I could tell now that he really was crying. But I couldn't tell if those were tears of joy or sorrow, because he was also smiling. "Go back to your time, Kumuri… There's nothing I can help you with." He then walked thought the Chaos Gate and left me hanging.

"Go back to my time!" I felt really dumbfounded. I took out the tablet that I found in the dungeon. I still couldn't read it, but it started to glow a yellow color, and then a beam of light shot towards me and hit the middle of my necklace. I was submerged in light. A sudden chill came over me, like that time when I died.

Darkness… only darkness was around me. "Kumuri…." I heard a gentle voice calling my name, but it seemed so far away. "Okimi." I heard it again, but this time it called me by my real name… _Saigi… is that you? Am I dead? Ohh Saigi, please stay with me… stay with me forever, I do not ever want to leave you. I love you! _"Okimi…" The voice came again louder this time. "Okimi, wake up!"

I slowly opened my eyes, and saw Saigi sitting next to me, and smiling. His eyes never left mine. His hand brushed away the fair from my face and he slowly bent down, moving closer and closer till our lips finally touched.

"Okimi!" I opened my eyes and saw Balmung standing over me, and reaching out his hand to help me up. "W-What just happened?" I looked around and wondered why I was still in the game. I took his hand and he pulled me up from the ground. "I have something to tell you…" Balmung said looking me in the eyes. "You missed your first hour…"

Well, it is kind of hard to get back into the story after not writing anything for about a year! 0.o wow… it was that long! Crap! Anyways… it will get better, because I got some good ideas…. And I am also writing a fan-fic for "Death Note" so look for that in a few days… Peace!


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